


The one were Simon thinks

by rainuniverse



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fantasy Politics, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, Not Britpicked, POV Penelope Bunce, POV Simon Snow, POV Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch, Pining, Watford Seventh Year, agatha isn't in this, it's just the flu, liberties were taken with watford classes, like she mentioned but she doesn't do anything, mentions of illness, original background characters - Freeform, simon/ gareth is not a relationship tag but i'm glad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25024921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainuniverse/pseuds/rainuniverse
Summary: Simon snow is straight. Or at least he thought he was. actually he's never really thought about it. But, when a classmate asks him out, it leads him to consider all sorts of things he never has before.
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Comments: 5
Kudos: 101





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to say that I've been heavily inspired either directly or indirectly by other authors in this fandom so if you see something and it reminds you of another fic you're probably right!  
> the premise for this one is loosely inspired by sourcherrymagiks fic on chocolate https://archiveofourown.org/works/21718252

**Baz**

If Dev was here I wouldn’t be listening to this ridiculous conversation. I mean thankfully he’s quarantined in his room instead of spreading whatever plague he has to the student body (not that it really affects me but all that sniffling gets annoying). But since he’s not here I'm stuck working with belt-buckle-boy and his slightly more tolerable friend despite my protest that I’m fine working alone. Working is subjective. It's more like I find answers from the textbook while the other two chatter endlessly about Gareth's atrocious love life. Political science should be an easy class considering all we do is read the textbook and answer the questions and occasionally have class discussions. Except the textbook was written by the mage and our class discussions are quickly shut down when anyone voices a negative opinion about the mage. It’s truly a disgrace to my mother's memory to see what passes for education in this school these days.

“What do you think, Baz?” says Rhys, the formerly tolerable one.

“Of what, I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to finish our assignment” (so i can get away from you.) I say leaving out the last part.

“Gareth wants to ask out Snow. I don’t think it’s a good idea” He says and I can’t help but laugh. The idea that Snow would Date any guy much less belt-buckle-boy is preposterous. I tell him so.

“Well, what do you know about Simon's sexuality? Gareth interjects defensively and loud enough that it gets the attention of the group next to us.

“I’ve lived with him for six and a half years and there’s nothing that he’s said or done that’s indicated that he’s even remotely interested in men.” I obsessively pay attention to every little thing he does, hoping for that very thing. In his defense, though I actively hide any evidence about myself, not because I'm ashamed. the less information people know about me the better. “Besides he’s dating Wellbelove.”

“They broke up two weeks ago” Gareth defends.

“He’s still straight.” I retort.

“He could be Bi and good at hiding it.” Rhys chimes in. whose side is he on?

“Snow can’t hide anything to save his life. If Snow was interested in guy’s the entire school would know about it.” I say rolling my eyes. Rhys looks like he’s about to say something, but thinks better of it. Does he know something I don’t? No, impossible.

I want to shake him and tell him to spit it out but accosting someone in a wheelchair is a bad look. 

“The question wasn’t should I ask out Snow, it's how and when. And you never know for sure until you ask.” Gareth Huffs.

“Well when Snow inevitably breaks your heart by being painfully straight I’ll be more than happy to say I told you so,” I reply right as the class period ends.

**Simon**

Magic words class is canceled today because a first-year accidentally turned the teacher into a frog. Or something. I'm sitting in the library trying to make sense of my history of magicks homework when I see Gareth approaching me. He’s a pretty nice guy. Kind of awkward. If Watford had a chess club he looks like he’d be president. That’s mainly his giant glasses that look like someone's grandfather would wear. Our school uniforms don’t help that image either. I have no idea how he dresses outside of school. He’s got slightly bucked teeth. If it wasn't for the belt buckle that probably what he’d get picked on for. He’s got shoulder-length reddish-brown hair that’s slightly greasy. He’s not bad looking just plain. He gets a lot of shit about his magical instrument being a belt buckle. I don’t think the belt buckles that bad. At least no one can knock his wand out of his hand. Although if someone tries to take his magical instrument from him they might accidentally hit what's below it. He seems to have stopped on his way over as if thinking better of it. I can tell he wants something from me but is too hesitant to walk over. I don’t think he knows I've noticed him. Should I wave him over? Why’s he so nervous? What does he even want? we don’t really talk to each other that often. Is he afraid that he’s going to set me off? What's his deal? Gareth notices me looking at him and finally walks over.

“Hey, Simon.” He greets not quite looking me in the eyes.

“Hey Gareth, what's up,” I reply trying to put him at ease. I can tell he’s nervous and nervous people put me on edge. 

“I-uh wanted to ask you if you uh- wanted to you know uh-” he stutters. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Baz lurking behind a bookshelf watching the entire scene with a bemused smirk. He meets my gaze and lifts one of his perfect eyebrows at me. Prick. I return my attention back to Gareth as he continues to struggle through the rest of his sentence. “...Go somewhere together uh- you know like-uh onadate” He finishes the last words sounding like one. After taking in what he says, I freeze. Gareth wants to date me. Gareth is a guy who wants to go out on a date with me. A guy likes me. Do guys find me attractive? Gareth does apparently. Does that bother me? No. Do I like that guy are attracted to me? It's flattering I guess. What would dating a bloke even be like? Would it be different than dating a girl? I bet it would. Agatha was soft and smelled nice. Guys seem like they’d be rougher. Physically with more edges and angles and in actions. Baz smells nice but he’s definitely more inclined to physical violence but He has an aloof suaveness to him that’s hard to describe as rough. Wait, why am I thinking about Baz? My thoughts are interrupted by Gareth clearing his throat.

“So- do you?” he says. oh merlin I actually need to give him an answer. I don’t know whether I want to date him or not. I've never considered dating a bloke before. What do I say? Should I say no? I’ve never thought about dating a guy but part of me wants to try. Should I say yes then? I’m still not sure. 

“I- uh need to think about.” That sounds like an okay answer. “I’m supposed to meet up with Penny, see you around,” I say then leave as fast as possible.

**Baz**

“What kind of answer is “ I need to think about it”. It’s a yes or no question. What could you possibly even need to think about? Is this his way of letting him down gently? Because if it is he’s done a poor job. What’s the point? It only gets Gareth's hopes up. Unless…” I say ranting in Dev and Nial’s room but mainly to myself.

“Unless…? Dev interrupts

“ No. He can’t seriously be considering dating Belt-buckle boy.” I say 

“ I mean he’s not all that bad looking.” Says Dev sniffling. I sneer at him

“Crowley, I can’t believe it you’re jealous of him.” Nial laughs.

“How can I be jealous of a guy who looks like a greasy beaver.” I scoff.

“Cuz he’s got a shot with the chosen one and you don’t.” Dev taunts but the effect is somewhat ruined by his congestion and scratchy voice. I regret telling them anything.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, Snow's straight and this is all a mistake,” I say.

“Sure it is.” snorts Nial.

“Why am I friends with you two again,” I ask sharply.

“Because you’d go mad with power otherwise,” Nial says playfully

“I hope you two die in a fire,” I reply dryly and turn to leave.

“Get me some soup will ya,” Dev demands as I walk out the door. I can’t believe people think they do what I say. 

  
  
  
  


**Penny**

I’m sitting on the great lawn enjoying the unseasonably nice weather when Simon careens over to where I'm sitting nearly tripping over me. Typically the two of us would be in magic words right now but a first-year student tried to cast  **_I hope you croak_ ** on his friend but hit the teacher instead. So now she can only communicate with frog sounds. The first year is lucky he didn’t think of the spell's second meaning. Simon clearly having run here put his hands on his knees attempting to catch his breath. That means he has urgent news of some sort.  _ Basil probably sneezed or something.  _ I almost preemptively remind him of the Baz Quota but decide against it on the off chance it’s something important.

“Penny.” he gasps, out of breath from running “ I have something I need to tell you.” he continues in between pants.

“What is it, Simon,” I ask trying to be patient with him

“Gareth asked me out,” he says in a slightly panicked voice. Well this is a new one

“Are you sure? what did he say?” Simon is either completely oblivious or reads too much into things. Especially when Baz is involved. Crowley, he probably thinks Baz is involved with this somehow. 

“He said, Simon, do you want to go on a date with me.” Simon clarifies defensively. Well, that certainly leaves nothing up to interpretation.

“So what did you say? Did you turn him down gently?” Did Simon upset Gareth? Is that why he’s so anxious?

“ I told him that I had to think about it,” Simon admits sheepishly. 

“Oh, Simon you’re sending him mixed messages. I know you have trouble get-” 

“But I AM thinking about it” he interjects cutting me off “I’ve Just-”

“You’ve just what, Simon?”

“I’ve just never thought about it, dating a bloke. I mean I knew I liked girls so I just never thought about it. Like, after Gareth asked me out I just froze and tried to think about what it would be like to date a guy.”

“So you told him you’d think about it in case you decide you want to try?”

“I mean he’s pretty nice I don’t see why not. I mean how do i know if you don’t try”

“ I don’t know. do you even find Gareth attractive?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did you know you were attracted to Agatha before you started dating?”

“ I don’t know! I don’t think about these sorts of things. I always thought of attractiveness as an objective fact. You know some people are just fit that’s how it is. How did you know you were attracted to Micah? huh? ” 

Interesting, I can work with this. Well, 

“Okay. Name people you think are objectively attractive”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“ Okay uh- Agatha, Baz…” I Give him a look but he continues. “ The guy who plays superman, Aidan Powell….” 

“Who?”

“He’s on the football team with Baz”

“Carry on” 

‘the guy who plays Loki, the girl from the new spiderman movie, Nina Graylight, Frankie moss”

This time I just give him a quizzical look

Seriously Pen? Nina’s the eighth year on the lacrosse team with Agatha that she’s complained about checking her out...no .. she keeps hitting Agatha with her stick and Agg’s has complained about it so many times that even  _ I know  _ about it. I’m surprised you haven’t instituted a Nina quota that’s how much she’s talked about it. and Frankie's a year below us.

“Okay, okay that’s enough. You know I zone out when either of you starts talking about sports. Especially since half your commentary is… how unfairly perfect Baz is at everything”. huh, this explains a lot actually. “Okay I know I’m going to regret this but...Baz? Really? He’s the second person you think of when you think of attractive people?”

**Simon**

“Baz? of all the guys at this school you had to say Baz? why? Penny says picking fun at me.

“I mean he’s fit right- like he’s got good muscles...” I say thinking about the time he pinned me to a wall and I felt his abs through his shirt when I went to push him away. He's got good hair, he smells nice… I mean he’s bloody perfect at everything.’’ 

“Okay, okay I get the picture,” Penny interjects exasperatedly. 

“You asked,” I say pointedly.

“Yeah, well I didn’t think you’d go on until I had to stop you.”

“It wasn’t that much”

“Any longer and you would have started reciting sonnets. Circe's pigs! It all makes sense now.”

“ what about being attracted to Baz makes sense?” 

“That’s what makes sense; it explains how obsessed with him you are. Like how you feel the need to follow him everywhere even though there's literally no way he could be plotting.”

“I’m not obsessed with Baz!

“Okay but why are we talking about Baz Instead of the guy who asked you out, and that you’re considering dating? Oh shit, I forgot about Gareth. I feel kind of bad. 

“Because you asked! I don’t like Baz! Even if I did I still wouldn’t date him! He’s evil!” I get so worked up my magic starts leaking.

“Okay, get it why don’t we get to the dining hall. lunch is about to start soon and I think cook Pritchard has made chicken soup. that always goes pretty fast.”

After lunch, I go to my last few classes but skip greek. I don’t feel like dealing with Baz in class. I know he eavesdropped on my conversation with Gareth. Instead, I blow off some steam training with my sword. I make up some of it in my tutoring session with Penny. We both decided instead of taking another elective course we would set aside the time to go to the library every day. It’s technically supposed to be dedicated to researching the yearly fiasco but we haven’t got any useful clues about the humdrum. To be honest we almost never do. So we use the time for studying. After that, I have free time. I should probably work on more homework, but I can't focus on it. I can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier. I work myself up again.

**Baz**

Snow’s on edge when he walks through the door. I’m pretty sure I know what it’s about but I can’t help but antagonize him anyway. 

“I heard what happened in the library” I sneer. What’s the matter Snow, can’t even reject someone without fucking up?” Snow glares back at me

“No, I Meant what I said. I am thinking about going with him” he says, challenging me to say something about it. Fuck. Crowley, this means- Merlin - I can't believe what I’m hearing. He expects me to challenge him so I do. But not the part he probably expects.

“Belt-Buckle boy? You’re seriously considering dating  _ GARETH _ ? Why? He looks like someone you’d find at an American petrol station! You go from Wellbelove to HIM! I can’t believe it.” That’s not the only thing about this situation I can’t believe. It’s like someone cast  **_Monkey's paw_ ** on me. I get something I wish for but at what cost. It was bad enough with Wellbelove and she wasn’t too outwardly affectionate. The rest of the student population probably didn’t mind their PDA because it was so tame. I don’t know how I’d handle watching Snow cozy up to another boy. Would the PDA be so tame with someone who's not Wellbelove? I never imagined Simon with anyone besides Agatha (except for myself but that’s a fantasy I knew would never come true). 

“ He’s nice,” says Snow answering a question I forgot I asked out loud.

“Then why didn’t you just say yes,” I ask exasperated. That’s really the question I want answered. 

“Well I’d never considered dating a bloke before Gareth asked me out, so I had to think about it.” 

“Just because someone asks you out it doesn’t mean you have to have an Identity crisis about it” I snap. merlin, this is really happening. 

“ I like girls so...like I just never had a reason to question it before. And like that's considered normal. It’s just easier to go with the flow and not question it. You know? Probably not. Uh”.

“It’s called Heteronormativity”

“What?

“What you just described, it’s called heteronormativity.” he looks at me like I’ve grown another head.” It’s the assumption that being straight is the default and therefore ‘normal’.”

**Simon**

Of course, Baz would know all the big words and definitions. Baz isn’t being a prick about it. Which I wouldn’t expect like he’s always parroting his family's opinions and they’re torries or something. Well, he is but it has to do with the fact that it’s Gareth specifically not that it’s a guy. In fact, if anything all of the cruelty about it is directed at Gareth. Well, I guess he’s insulting my taste in men. He’s so bothered that it’s Gareth. That amuses me. He’s actually kind of supportive of the gay? Bi? Whatever-you-wanna-call-it ..thing. His face actually got a little softer when I talked about why I'm just now thinking about it. He’s more attractive for it. That’s another thing. Being attracted to Baz. I can admit it. It’s true. It kind of sucks. He’s the reason I know for a fact I like guys. If he asks I’ll say I like the way footballers look in their kit and you can see their thighs. It’s kind of the truth. He doesn’t need to know he’s included in that. I go to the dining hall and sit at my usual table with Penny. Agatha stopped sitting with us when she broke up with me. I mean she broke up with me because she didn’t like dealing with all the chosen one stuff, and because I didn’t have time for her with all the chosen one stuff, and possibly because she likes Baz better. those things would still be a problem if we were just friends. I’m surprised that they’re not together. It would hurt my feelings a bit. Not just because Baz is my enemy, but because Baz is complicated and somewhat dangerous to be around too. Maybe she realized that and that’s why they aren't together. Would Gareth understand? It’s weird thinking about moving on, dating someone who isn’t Agatha. Two weeks ago I thought we would get married. That she’d be my happily ever after. Penny doesn’t bring up our earlier conversation so I don’t either. I think I need some time to just not think about it. I try to think about something normal. I notice Baz hasn’t come to dinner. His minions aren’t here either. What’s he up to? If it weren’t for Dev and Niall being gone I’d say he’s down draining rats in the catacombs. Penny seems to notice me looking in the direction of their table because she says 

“Dev’s sick so they're probably eating in him and Nial’s room” 

“They can still be plotting,” I say because they could be. It’s normal, it's been an eventful day. 

“Simon, really?”

“Are you going to say the questions  _ YOU _ asked earlier are part of my Baz Quota?”

“No, but Simon, I kinda thought you would lay off after what we talked about today?”

“Why? Being attracted to Baz doesn’t mean he’s not going to kill me.”

“When's the last time he tried to kill you?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Do you really believe that he is? Is there possibly another reason.”

“Maybe, but he has hurt me in the past so isn’t not trusting him is a bit reasonable?”

“Okay, but how many times have you actually figured out what he’s doing ahead of time? 

“I haven’t,” I admit

“And how many times have you stopped it from happening.”

“Zero.  _ But _ I figured out that he’s a vampire”

“You don’t have proof of that.”

“Yet.”

“Simon, have you ever known him to just leave evidence lying around. Let’s face it he’s to thorough for even your persistent stalking skills”

“All I have to do is wait for him to make one mistake.”

“Has that ever worked in the past.”

“The vam-” I start but she interrupts me by saying “evidence and no dead rats don’t count anything could have killed those.

“Then no.”

“So why do you keep doing it”

“I don’t know maybe I’ll catch him eventually”

“Simon, have you ever heard the saying “doing the exact thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity” 

“Well I have now”

“That's what you’re doing. You keep trying to catch Baz doing something and never do. Even if he is planning something it’s never something that has evidence to find.”

“Are you saying I should give up?”

“I’m not saying you should let your guard down completely or anything. But I think Baz has given up on trying to majorly hurt you while we’re in school at least.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, as I’ve pointed out he hasn’t tried to kill you in a while, and Baz isn’t stupid if he knows that trying anything would just be worse for him. Say he does do something. He would either be caught immediately or be suspect number one. Hell, if you die of suspicious causes no matter who does it, Baz will probably take the fall anyway just because the mage hates his family.”

“So killing me is probably not worth it.”

“And if he really wanted you dead you already would be.” 

“I don’t know about that. He’s probably still trying to figure it so he won’t get caught immediately so he can go on the run or something”

“Actually I've thought about that if you plan on killing your roommate at Watford do it in your room so the anathema kicks you out and you’ll already be off campus when the authorities arrive.” 

“Wow, should I be worried about Trixie?”

“I’ve also decided that murdering my roommate is not worth it”

“They should probably make it so that if you murder someone you go straight to jail, Not you know give them a head start getting away. I hope you’re right about Baz and he hasn’t just not figured out what you just told me..”

“I usually am.”

  
  


**Baz**

When I get up to our room after hunting in the catacombs, Snow's already asleep and the windows are open. I get ready for bed and lay down, but I don’t go to sleep right away. Instead, I watch Simon sleep. He’s got his shirt off and he’s facing the wall.

I can tell he’s really asleep and not just pretending like he sometimes does because he never lets his blankets slip off down to his waist when he’s awake like they are now so I have an excellent view of the constellations of moles on his back. Some look like existing constellations from the night sky but some are just his. I’d name them if he were mine. I’d kiss the stars that make them up and every patch of skin in between. But he’s not mine and he never will be. He’ll kill me and have some sort of happily ever after in the arms of someone who’s not me. And after what I learned today that might be another man. That hurts more than thinking of him with Wellbelove. Before it was completely hopeless. Before I could tell myself he’ll never love me back because he’s straight. Now I have to admit that I'm the reason he’ll never love me. Even keeping that in mind I have a spark of hope in my heart and it’s just enough to set myself on fire with.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm already finished writing this fic and I'm posting as I edit. I've been editing one chapter a day so you should expect the next update tomorrow. some of the later chapters might take more editing as I was really pushing to actually finish. I'm already proud of this story it's the most I've ever written and the first long story I've ever finished.

**Simon**

When I wake up Baz is still asleep as usual. I don’t get up right away. I let myself steal a good look at Baz as he sleeps. I know that’s a little creepy but he just looks so peaceful. All the usual sneering and scowling is absent; he looks soft, vulnerable, almost sweet. When I see him like this I almost forget we’re supposed to be enemies. I stop looking at him and get out of bed. The last thing I need is for him to catch me staring at him. I get dressed and head to breakfast. I wanna get to the scones while they’re hot so Penny doesn’t feel the need to spell them for me even though I tell her it’s a waste of magic. I think about what Penny said yesterday, about how Baz probably isn’t plotting my demise. At least not right away. He might not be trying to kill me but he’s still a prick to me. Of course, I give as good as I get. Maybe if I stop he’ll stop. If I stop right away he’ll know something’s up. I’ll just tone it down and see if he matches. I reckon that includes trying to prove that he’s a vampire. I mean it doesn’t seem like he’s hurting anyone besides rats and the occasional wildlife. Now that I think about it he would have had to have either been turned as a child or been born a vampire. Either way, he probably didn’t have a choice. I guess that makes me a right asshole for trying to expose him. I mean if he’s not hurting anyone then he’s just a bloke with an unusual diet. 

I still haven’t figured out what I'm going to do about Gareth. I’m pretty sure I like blokes. But do I want to date Gareth? Hell, do I want to date anyone? Me and Agatha only broke up two almost three weeks ago. We were together for two years. I was pretty sure I was going to marry her. On the other hand, it could be fun to go out, try to move on. As long as Gareth is on the same page it could be good. 

Gareth is in my first class of the day. We don’t typically talk that much, but he approached me anyway. I guess he wants an answer.

“Hi Simon!’ he greets, smiling

“Hey, how are you this morning.

“I’m doing well.”

“So - you probably want an answer.”

“Honestly I just wanted to see if you were actually considering it.”

“Oh, well I have. I’ve been considering a lot lately”

“Oh okay good, that's great.”

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know if I’m ready for a serious relationship right now. I just got out of a years-long relationship, but it could be fun to go out.”

“Oh yeah totally, it's only a date it doesn’t have to be anything super serious.”

“That’s great.”

“So Saturday.”

“Saturday Sounds great .”

“What do you wanna do?”

“I thought the person who asked was supposed to plan the date,” I say trying to be flirty. “Surprise me but nothing off-campus “. Upperclassmen are technically allowed to leave campus with parent/ guardian permission however I would have to explain to the mage why I want to leave campus and who I’m with and I really don’t want to do that. Merlin, I didn’t consider how the mage would react. 

“Okay great, I’ll come up with something.”

“See you Saturday.“

“It’s a date.”

**Baz**

My first few classes go by without incident. Snow was in a good mood during elocution this morning. which is highly unusual because it’s one of his worst subjects. It isn’t until I get too political science that things take a turn for the worst, but that's pretty normal. Dev is back so I don’t have to work with the greasy beaver and his friend. However, he decides it’s okay to talk to me anyway and approaches me with more confidence than usual. 

“Snow agreed to go out with me.” He says. He’s gloating. He was right and I was wrong. Right or wrong He’s currently trying to embarrass me. I can’t let him get away with that So he has to pay.

“Well have fun being Snow’s experiment.” I snark.

“It’s not- he’s not…”

“You’re right Snow is too nice to do anything like that. _On purpose_ . He probably doesn’t realize he’s doing it but Let’s face it, a previously completely straight boy just gets out of a relationship and starts dating the first boy who asks him out. You’re either the experiment or the rebound. _Or both_.” I’m actually kind of sorry for him because what I’m saying is probably true. Even down to the Snow doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. 

“ No you’re wrong he wouldn’t.”

“He probably asked for something casual. “Not too serious.” Just got out of a long relationship but a bit of fun won’t hurt.” I snap dripping with sarcasm. I kind of wonder why Bunce never said anything. She has to know about this situation. Maybe she didn’t think he’d actually go out with Gareth. Maybe she thought like I did that even if he does like guys he still wouldn’t date Gareth. 

**Simon**

I test run my being nicer to Baz strategy in greek but he doesn’t make it easy. Whenever I'm called on to answer, he sneers and snickers when I inevitably pronounce something wrong. I try to ignore him but the minotaur has us doing partner work and no one wants to work with either of us. Me because I'm shit with languages and him because he’s a prick. So we’re stuck working together. Honestly what teacher in their right mind lets two students who famously don’t get along work together?

“So we’re supposed to translate, conjugate, and use the new verbs in conversation right? I start civilly.

“That’s exactly what the minotaur just said’

“Why don’t I do the first half and you do the second half and we swap papers and look them over when we’re done.”

“You mean I do my half and correct your mistakes”

“It'll still take you less time to correct my mistakes than to do them from the beginning besides most of these are regular verbs so they’re right in the book. Even I can’t screw up that badly.” talking to Baz is much easier if I pretend I’m talking to someone else.

I ignore the hostility and respond like I'm talking to Penny. I mean even Penny has her moments of cutting snark.

**Baz**

Now, _this_ is a bizarre occurrence. Not only have I noticed that Snow hasn’t sneered, scowled, or growled at me today. He’s actually talking to me. Civilly. And with purpose. He even got his share of the work done with minimal errors. I almost complement him but that would be pushing this strange miracle too far. However, he does struggle with our past vocabulary too much to attempt the speaking part of the activity. I’m waiting for the class to move on when I spot Niall (traitor) a few seats over. He’s got his eyes closed tightly and his fist clenched obviously in pain. I walk over to him and ask if he’s okay.

“Headache” he responds

Wasn’t a headache a symptom of what Dev had.” he nods “want me to escort you back to your dorm? He nods again. I explain the situation to the minotaur and he excuses us from class. There I spell him with a **_get well soon_** and tell him I'll visit him after football then head to the music room for violin practice. 

**Penny**

I meet Simon during our normal study time. I don’t need the extra study time to actually study. So I usually end up tutoring Simon. 

“So, anything interesting happened today? He starts like he always does when he has something interesting to say but is trying to be polite. 

“No, besides getting a letter from Micah, what about you?

“I’m going out with Gareth on Saturday.”

“Really?” I say incredulously. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t even like him!”

“Yes, I Do!”

“No, you just like the idea of him.”

“What! No.”

“Face it. This Gareth thing is just new and exciting, and you just like that he’s paying attention to you.” 

“No, it’s not”

“You literally told me that the reason you didn’t reject him outright is that you liked the idea of dating a guy not because you like him”

“I’m not going to cancel on him. It would be shitty of me to do that after making him wait so long for an answer. Anyway-” he says, trying to change the subject. “That’s Not the only thing that happened today”

“What else happened?

“So I thought about what you said about Baz and I decided to try to be nicer to him to see if he would be nicer if I didn’t antagonize him.”

“That’s great Simon! How did he respond?” 

“I think he was starting to tone down the hostility once he noticed I wasn’t responding to it, but Niall was sick so Baz left class early to escort him to his dorm.”

“That was nice of him.’”

“I know. He actually seemed like he was a good friend.”

“Yeah. we should review the silencing spells we went over in magic words last Tuesday. Do you remember any of them?”

“Yeah, vaguely. Why do we need a spell that requires you to kiss someone in order to shut them up when you could just cast **Cat got your tongue?** Instead?

**Baz**

Snow’s already in our room when I get back from visiting Niall. Snow’s been acting strangely all day and I don’t think it all has to do with him agreeing to go on a date with Gareth. Unless Gareth did something to him in order to get this result. Nevertheless, Snow’s odd behavior is concerning. Right now he’s combing over what looks to be some sort of comic book.

“Hey, Baz,” he says nearly startling me. We don’t greet each other 

“What’s going on Snow? I ask bluntly.

“What do you mean Baz? He asks feigning ignorance

“I mean what are you up to Snow”

“Right now I’m reading a comic book”

“I don’t know what kind of game you're trying to play here, but I know you’re up to something.”

“There’s no game here”

“Snow you’ve been acting strangely all day. You’re not subtle. Explain yourself!”

“Look, I thought maybe if I stopped being hostile towards you maybe you would start to lay off.”

“And you’ve come to this conclusion now because…?

“I’ve been thinking lately

“That’s a first”

“And I’ve come to the conclusion that if you wanted me dead i’d already be dead”

“what if I’m just looking for a way to do it and get away with it.”

“Then you’re not as smart as Penny thinks you are, because Penny has already figured out how to. But really you’re not as evil as I thought you were. Besides aside from self-defense I really have no reason to fight you”

“What!?”

“Yeah I mean I don’t actually fully understand what the conflict is actually about.”

“What?” I repeat truly vexed. “You mean to tell me we’ve been fighting for six and a half years and you don’t even know why?

“I mean self-defense as I already stated and the mage sort of explained it but...what he said seems a bit exaggerated now that I think about it. And like the Bunces are all for diversifying Watford but they hate the mage too. So… yeah I don’t understand the politics of it. I mean I've been more focused on the humdrum than politics. The only reason I ever focused on you was that I thought you were trying to kill me.”

“And the constant accusations of performing dark magic.”

“From me or from the mage.”

“Both I guess”

“Well from my perspective you have tried to use magic to hurt me and possibly kill me several times so assuming you were going to take things further wasn’t the worst logical leap, yeah? So it wasn’t hard for me to believe you and your family would resort to dark magic. And like I said earlier the mage seems to be prone to exaggeration.”

“How about flat out lies.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. Don’t get me wrong I still think your lot are traditionalist assholes who need to be brought down a peg or two and I understand what the mage is trying to do. I think. I just don’t understand why all of this can’t be solved by talking it out. The only facts I was getting about the conflict were from the mage and he doesn’t like to update me on anything. The Welbeloves don’t like to bring up politics over holidays. Penny's parents don’t really like to talk to me. Especially not about the mage they say they hear enough about his policies from Premal.

Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised. With the state of Watford's political science classes, I know that the mage is actively trying to suppress information that goes against the mages agenda. However I honestly never considered the effectiveness of the mages propaganda campaigns and I’ve always found it odd that the mage would just blow off his greatest weapon. I always thought Snow knew and just agreed with what the mage is doing. Although blindly following the mage isn’t much better. However, it seems that he’s coming to see the error of his ways on that front.

“ So what, Snow? After all these years of fighting, you want what? For everyone to just get along and stop fighting? Newsflash Snow, just because things aren’t as tense here at Watford, doesn’t mean that everything is fine. The Mages campaign against my family is unfair. Merlin, we can’t even meet in large groups in our own homes without being accused of conspiring against the mage. Snow inhales sharply and grimaces, an expression that conveys both mild guilt and self-awareness.

“ I know I can be overly defensive of the mage but he’s done a lot for me. I wouldn’t even be here If it weren’t for him. Look I'm not saying none of these things are problems but I am saying that I personally don’t believe that anyone should die over them. I’ll defend myself If I have to, but what I want is to not have to. I’m not expecting things to be perfectly fine in the end but I won’t kill people in a war I don’t believe in.”

“And you want me to go along with this little plan of yours?”

“Yes.”

“Why should I.”

“I mean it seems like a win, win situation. I won’t antagonize you, you won’t antagonize me,”

“Hmm… I don’t know Snow, I rather like antagonizing you.”

“And you don’t have anything better to do.”

“Fine.”

“Fine?”

“I’ll go along with your little plan. But do keep in mind that, as you have cleverly figured out, with the help of bunce no doubt, I have been holding back.”

“And?”

“ _And_ If this is some sort of ploy to get me to let my guard down I won’t. Also, you can’t stalk me or accuse me of plotting.”First Snow likes men, now he wants to stop fighting. Crowley, I’m living a charmed life

**Simon**

So the whole “slowly tone down the hostility so Baz doesn’t immediately think something’s up” thing backfired, but he agreed to a truce! Wow! I didn’t think I'd get this far. I can’t help but wonder if he was secretly wishing for this to happen. He probably just likes the idea of peace and quiet. I try to fill the unusually awkward silence with activity. I try to go back to my comic book but I’ve already read it multiple times so I can’t really focus on it. Typically this would be the part of the day where I try to figure out what Baz’s plotting but, we’ve made a truce and that involves trusting him. I can’t help but glance at him where he’s doing homework at his desk. Should I try to talk to him? That might be pushing it. He looks frustrated. Is Baz having trouble with his homework? Should I say something? Try to lighten the mood? We’re on truce but we’re not friends. We could be though. I go back and forth on whether or not I should try to talk to him until dinner starts and I go down and meet Penny.

**Baz**

I sigh in relief when Snow leaves the room. He’s been staring at me on and off for the past two hours. It’s made it impossible to work on my political science essay which is due Monday and of course, it has to be about the benefits of the mages for Britain's magical community. He probably still thinks I’m up to something but our agreement keeps him from saying anything. Although old habits die hard I suppose. I’ll give him a little leeway for adjustment if this is going to work. It's going to take effort on both of our parts. I think I can get away with an essay about how the mage’s reforms could be beneficial if executed correctly and detail the ways in which any promising legislation has been poorly executed by the mage to the extent of detriment to magical society. I make good progress on the paper before checking in on Niall and going to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Simon

Gareth tries to talk to me in our first shared class. I say try because it feels less like a conversation and more like an interrogation or a pop quiz. He asks me about my favorite food (cherry scones), favorite color (changes day by day), and all the other essential get-to-know-you questions. I find out that he’s a big fan of anime and manga. I wonder if he’s found a way to watch the shows at Watford or if he sticks to manga while at school. Baz has an illegal laptop spelled to work here but he doesn’t really care about the mage's rules. I do wonder how many other people have illegal technology. I know Penny has her mobile. By the time we get out of class, Gareth knows all of the basics. Hopefully, with that he can come up with a decent date idea.

My next class is elocution, my worst class, and one of the three classes I have with Baz this year. It doesn't help that our teacher loves to pair roommates together and does so whenever possible. She's always waxing poetic about the power of the crucible and how it brings unlikely souls together. Despite our truce, I don’t look forward to working with Baz but just my luck the teacher does assign work in pairs and there’s getting out of working with him. He doesn’t seem particularly pleased to be working with me either. The teacher passes out lists of vocabulary words that we are supposed to practice reading aloud to each other. I look over the list some of the words are ones that would come up every day while you can tell others have very specific uses.  
“When am I ever going to use these words in a conversation let alone a spell.”  
“That's because you’re an uncultured swine. Besides, the point is to practice the sounds Snow.  
“ I still don’t understand why we even need this class. Why don’t we just make sure we have the right pronunciation of the spells themselves?”  
“Because a good mage is constantly learning and finding new spells elocution gives a framework on how to pronounce new words we encounter.”  
“That's great. Except it’s highly unlikely that new spells are going to come from phrases in perfect queen's English. Also English doesn’t have a rigid framework”   
“Okay, you may have a point. Baz grumbles  
“What was that.”  
“I will not repeat myself and we still have to do the assignment regardless of if you agree with it or not.”  
“Fine.” I start on the list struggling with even the first word “ah-kay? Ah-kai?.” I attempt.  
“Ah-sigh-ee.”  
“That can’t be right.”  
“But it is.”  
“You’re telling me a word spelled A-C-A-I is pronounced with that many syllables.

“Well, the “I” does have an accent mark. But to be fair this word is a carryover from another language and also a noun.”  
“What is it?”  
“It’s a type of fruit.” I look at him questioning. “A type of berry I think. My step-mother was obsessed with them last summer. Apparently they have a lot of health benefits

Baz  
“Let’s just move on.”  
“Okay.”  
“Nitch.”  
“Neesh. But your pronunciation is also acceptable.”  
“Then why is it on the list.”  
“Maybe so if you come across rhyming words you’ll know how to pronounce them.”  
“ like what Baz?”  
“Nouveau riche.”  
“I’m pretty sure that's french.”  
“It’s another phrase that was carried over but the common use of the phrase in English speaking countries isn’t translated.” he looks at me giving an annoyed look. “It’s not my fault the English language is like this.” he still hasn’t softened his gaze. “I’ll take a crack at the next one first.”  
I look down at the list and just to add insult to injury the next word on the list is chimera.  
“Actually I think we both got that one,” I say attempting to defuse a potentially tense rather more tense situation  
“Oh come on don’t you think we should practice it for the sake of the assignment. It is all about the sounds, not the actual words.” he chuckles   
“Keep at it like that and I’ll sick another chimera on you truce or not,’’ I say jokingly   
“And I’ll laugh when the chimera turns on you. Just like it did last time.”  
We both burst into proper laughter. After a few moments Simon comments   
“Are we really jokingly reminiscing about a time you tried to kill me”  
“ I was only trying to scare you. But I guess there are no hard feelings  
“I guess not,” he replies smiling

I ride the high of my more than civil interaction with Simon all the way to political science. But predictably my happiness is short-lived. (because this classroom is where happiness comes to die apparently). Luckily using class time to work on our papers. Unluckily we’re doing peer review. On top of that instead of just table partners, it’s groups again. Seriously, what's with all the group work? Did all the staff recently attend a seminar on the importance of teamwork? Can’t one teacher just lecture?   
On top of all that belt-buckle-boy has decided once again that it would be a good idea to annoy me again even after what I said yesterday. Can’t this absolute moron take a hint?  
“Hey, pitch don’t you think that it’s funny that half the people in this room wrote that one of the benefits of the mages reforms is that families like yours will be kicked out of power.” wow what an absolute asshole.  
“Wow isn’t it funny how fast Snow’s going to dump you once he realizes what a total piece of shit you are.”  
“I don’t think he will.”  
“So you admit that you’re a total piece of shit.”  
“I don’t think that the mage's heir will break up with me for saying that the mages reforms will give the old families what they deserve.”  
So when I state brash political opinions the teacher shuts it down immediately but when he does it specifically to antagonize me no one says anything. But well ifGareth's right they all think I deserve it. Up until just this week, he probably would have been right about Simon.  
“ Maybe so but you’re still not good enough for him. You think that someone who dated Agatha Wellbelove is going to be happy with someone like you for more than a week. You’ll be lucky if you even get through one date with him before he realizes it.”  
“He put some deep thought into my offer isn’t that a sign that he likes me?”  
“He didn’t even know he wasn’t straight until you asked. He only said yes because you were the first guy who offered.’’  
“How could you possibly know that.”  
“He told me.”  
“You’re lying!”  
“ I strong-armed it out of him after I watched you nearly strike out with him. But he did tell me.’  
Gareth is so worked up that the teacher finally intercedes. I think he realized that one, the drama was not going to segway back to the mages reforms and two thatGareth was not going to win his fight. 

Penny   
Mrs. Possibelf has recovered from her froggy condition. Alongside her previously planned lecture she has decided to remind all of her classes of the ramifications of testing spells on humans, the importance of considering double meanings when choosing spells, and accurate aiming of magical instruments. Which is all well and good. I’m honestly glad to get a break from all the group work. However, that means I have to wait that much longer to hear whatever Simon is dying to tell me. The next chance we’ll have to talk is lunch which is just after this class, but well Simon isn’t good with details when he has food on the brain. When class is over I catch Simon looking over at Baz. Baz meets his gaze. Instead of glaring Simon, gives him a friendly wave. Strange. What's even stranger is that Baz waves back. Nicks and slicks, what is going on. I know Simon decided to be nicer to him but I didn’t think he would reciprocate so fast. Or really at all the best, I was hoping for was that they’d ignore each other until graduation. On Simon's part, it makes sense, with his giant crush on Baz. But that doesn’t explain Basil’s behavior.  
“Simon, what was that?” I ask as we make our way to the dining hall.  
“What was what?”  
“You waving at Baz like you’re friends.”  
“We made a truce. Talked it out properly.’’  
“What did you say?”  
“Well, I told him that I didn’t understand why we had to have a full out war. I mean why can’t it be solved diplomatically.”  
“You really said that?”  
“I also said that if there was a war I would simply refuse to fight in it.”  
“Do you really think that’s going to work.”  
“I mean not if I’m the only one who does it but I refuse to kill people in a war I don’t believe in.”  
“So you want to try to get more people to refuse to fight?”  
“If I can, stopping the war altogether is the best outcome, but everyone treats it like it’s inevitable. Hell, since first year everyone just accepted that Baz and I were going to fight to the death someday. But if we don’t maybe others will see that none of this has to happen. I don’t know…”   
“Honestly Simon if it was anyone else but you and Baz it wouldn’t work. But it is so it just might. “  
“Really?”  
“But we would need Baz to agree not to fight altogether.”  
“I’m not entirely sure about that.”  
“It’ll be a long shot for sure.” this still doesn’t explain why you were acting so friendly”  
“I don’t know Baz told a joke that wasn’t at my expense for once and I guess we sort of bonded. I don’t really know. This whole truce thing is going better than I expected. I would guess that both of us were only fighting because we felt like we had to. Know that we don't... I don't know it feels like we were supposed to be like this all along. Like maybe without all of that pressure we could have been friends.   
“I guess enemies or not you just sort of gravitate towards each other.”  
Baz  
“Wow, mate you’ve really got it out for beaver boy don’t you? Dev chides. He doesn't look up from the game he’s playing on some sort of handheld console.   
“He’s got it out for me. I think he somehow deluded himself that he could win in a fight against me.”  
“Maybe he thinks if he gets into it with you it will win him some favor with Snow or that Snow will back him up.” Says Niall.  
“Well, he might be right.” Dev agrees.  
“Actually Snow and I have been getting along pretty well recently.” this gets both of their undivided attention. Dev puts down his game and Niall rests his chin in his hands like a fifteen-year-old girl at a slumber party.  
“Spill,” says Niall.   
“There's nothing much to say. We just mutually realized that we were tired of fighting and that we’ve only been fighting each other in retaliation for what the other has done.”  
“Oh come on there has to be more than that.”  
“I mean I told a joke in elocution and he laughed.”  
“What was the joke about?”  
“Have either of you had elocution yet.” the both shake their heads   
“Well, I was partnered up with Snow.”  
“Because the crazy weirdo is obsessed with the crucible.”  
“Yeah, she thinks the whole thing is some sort of soulmate bond generator or something.”  
“Did she even go to Watford.”  
“No.”  
“Guys, did you want to hear about Snow or not?.” they both shut up.  
“Carry on,” says Niall  
“So we were doing a simple vocabulary exercise. We were supposed to pronounce the words out loud with a partner. Naturally, Snow was having some trouble with some of the words, but in his defense some of them you just had to know how to pronounce. Any way Snow started getting frustrated so offered to pronounce the next word first so he could hear how it was pronounced. You’ll never guess what the word was.”  
“What?”  
“It was chimera.” they both burst out laughing  
“What did you say?”  
“I said we could probably skip that one I think we both have it covered.”  
“And he laughed?”  
“He started teasing me how we should do it anyway because it’s part of the assignment. And I jokingly threatened that if he didn’t stop teasing me I would sick another chimera on him. And he said he would laugh when the chimera turned on me again. Then we both started laughing.”  
“So you joked about killing him and he didn’t take it as a genuine threat?”  
“No, he even said he was over it.”  
“Wow.”  
“Hey, Niall are you feeling better? Do you need me to cast another Get well soon on you before I leave?”  
“You know that I’m perfectly capable of casting it right?’ says Dev.  
“Yeah, but I’m better at it. And you know it.” I retort.  
“No I’m fine for now and if not I can make do with Devs spellwork,” says Niall

Simon  
The rest of the day passes without much fanfare. Baz doesn’t talk to me in greek (the class, not the language. He doesn’t speak the language to me either. Penny and I work on our respective homework during our planned study time. I gripe about the vocabulary we had for elocution today. Why were so many of them transferred from other languages? Why do native English speakers need an entire class dedicated to elocution? Penny says that proper pronunciation is important to spellwork but the entire study of elocution has racist and classist roots. I told her Baz said that I needed to know that niche is pronounced like neesh so I could properly pronounce nouveau riche. Penny burst out laughing at that one. She had to explain to me why that was so funny. Apparently nouveau riche is a phrase old money people use to make fun of newly rich people. Rich people make fun of other rich people for not being the right kind of rich people. Crowley. After that, I found myself with nothing to do. I surprisingly finished all of my homework with Penny. No mysteries to solve no evil plans to foil. Nothing. For a little, while I try to read and get ahead of classwork. That doesn’t work out. I eventually cave in to my instincts and go watch Baz’s football practice. Sometimes I don’t know which is better, Baz in practice or Baz in an actual game. On one hand, Baz is on the field throughout the entire practice. On the other hand, he tends to hold back during practice. Not by much but if you watch him long enough you can tell. Baz will never know this but sometimes coach mac asks me if I notice any patterns he may have missed. Last year Baz always ran diagonally towards the home stands when he had the ball. It was really funny when Mac told him to stop showing off.   
Baz spots me from his position on the field and gives me the first proper glare since our truce started. What was that- oh wait he probably thinks I’m stalking him to figure out what he’s plotting. I’m not I just like watching football. Especially if Baz is playing. When practice is over Baz storms over to me.  
“Snow!” he shouts growling then stops short of getting in my face. “I thought part of this whole truce thing is neither of us stalking or plotting against each other.”  
“Baz I genuinely just wanted to watch practice.”  
“I could see you watching me the entire time.”  
“Baz, you’re one of if not the best player on the team. I’d be stupid not to watch you.”  
“Why should I believe you.”  
“Okay, I’m not stupid. I knew you probably weren't plotting during practice. However, it’s one of the few places I knew exactly where you were, how long you would be there, and when you would leave.”  
“And your point is?”  
“If I was only doing it to figure out if you were plotting I would only have to show up for the last fifteen or so minutes of practice I wouldn’t have to stay for the whole thing.”  
“But you did show up halfway through practice.”  
“Yeah, but I didn’t plan on coming originally. I just got bored and decided to watch practice.”  
“Don’t you have anything better to do besides stalking me.”  
“Not really it turns out I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what you’re up to.”  
“You could, I don’t know work on defeating the humdrum.”  
“No leads. We haven’t discovered anything new about the humdrum and we’ve exhausted all of our resources.”  
“You still constantly stare at me.”  
“I mean still want to know what you’re up to but in a - If he’s not plotting is he doing sense?’ and he’s bloody gorgeous but I can’t tell him that   
“But why?  
Baz   
“What?”  
“Why Snow? Why do you care?”  
“ I don’t know even though we live together and I’ve been trying to figure out what you’ve been plotting for years. I don’t know that much about you. And I guess I’ve always been jealous of people who are friends with their roommate.”  
This could all easily be a ploy to get my guard down and try to get information out of me. But then again I’ve always wanted to be closer to him. If I can't have him, maybe I can at least be his friend. Maybe if we’re friends I can give in to some of my impulses. To comfort him when he’s upset instead of trying to hurt him. To take care of him when he’s all torn up from one of the mage’s missions. I’ve seen him with Bunce and he seems generous with his affections. Maybe he’ll give me one of those bear hugs I've seen him give his friends.   
“We could try to be friends I suppose. I have to admit I’ve thought about that too. Especially with how close Dev and Niall are.” I glance around hoping no one’s witnessed this blatant sentimentalism. Snow catches on saying  
“We should have this discussion back in our room.”  
“Agreed.”

Once we reach our room there’s a strange tension. Despite our mutual agreement that we’d rather be friends. How does one proceed after deciding to be friends? In my experience, you either get on or you don’t.   
“well .’  
“Well?  
“I guess we talk”  
“What do you want to talk about.”  
“I don’t know but it feels weird to ask the basic get to know you questions even though those are the things I don’t know about you.”  
“I get it. It feels contrived to ask trivial questions like that when you know someone's bathroom schedule.  
“I know right? I know what brand of shampoo you use but not your favorite color. Maybe we should do the opposite you know?  
“no.”  
“No”?   
“No. I don’t know what the opposite is”  
“I was thinking you know big serious things.” Wow, this really seems like a ploy to get information out of me. I could call him out or I could play along and try to get him to show his hand or hopefully prove himself trustworthy. But I can’t just tell him sensitive information right away.  
“I still don’t follow.”  
“Well, I thought it would be important to get some potential friendship enders out of the way.”  
“Like what?” Crowley is this his way of trying to get me to admit to being a vampire  
“I don’t know do you hold any bigoted viewpoints against magical creatures? Or like why do you hate the mages reforms?”  
“No, I don’t hate magical creatures. I personally disagree with the mages reforms because some of them like the school reforms are done poorly. But some of them are just bad specifically designed to target the old families”  
“Like what, give me some examples.”  
“Well, part of the initial resistance for letting magical creatures in and getting rid of power level testing was the fear that the quality of education would go down. Which from what I can tell it has. If the mage had made proper accommodations for the new types of students it wouldn’t be an issue.”  
“What is wrong with the current system?”  
“Well, the mage didn’t properly accommodate the range of magical abilities. All students have the same curriculum regardless of the amount of magical power they have. Essentially we have students who can barely cast magic in with students who could cast even the most powerful spell with ease. The new system is not only detrimental to the students with high power levels but to the students, the system is trying to benefit”  
“Oh. So what about the other reforms. Like what's wrong with them.”  
“Well the mage raised taxes on the old families, but we don’t know where any of the money is going.”  
“I thought it was going to Watford for operating costs since there are no tuition fees now.”  
“Yes, the amount of tax money raised doesn’t match up with spending for the school. With the amount the families are paying in taxes, we should be seeing major improvements around here and we're not.”  
“Oh okay. But how is the mage specifically targeting the families otherwise?”  
“Making it illegal to own certain spellbooks.  
“I mean I don't see the problem with some of those. I mean some spells are highly dangerous.”  
“Yes they are, but that's the opposite of the point. Our magic runs on popular phrases. We live in a world where you can kill someone with a child's lullaby. Banning books because they contain dangerous and powerful spells is even more dangerous. Yes, people knowing these spells makes it more likely that someone will use them. But someone wondering what a common phrase or popular song lyric will do and testing the phrase with magic is more dangerous than knowing what those words will do  
“I mean me and Penny do that all the time and nothing terrible has happened.”

“Okay, so when that first-year cast I hope you croak on his friend he knew that if he thought about his target dying instead of ribbiting like a frog that person would die.   
“Well, I mean that one already has a meaning relating to death.”  
“But not all spells are obvious to what they do. Do you think the first thing that people think of when they hear the phrase candle in the wind think of increased stamina? And why do you and Bunce have to make up spells, surely Bunce studies enough that she should at least know all the spells you two would need. Unless of course, you need one of these “dangerous spells” but don’t know them because the mage has decided that there is no circumstance it would ever be okay to use them.”  
“I don’t see why that's considered targeting the families specifically.”  
“A lot of our families have quite large libraries. These libraries have the accumulated knowledge of generations of mages. Our collections often range from well-kept archives to random hoards of books. Like I said before the knowledge itself shouldn’t be taboo but some families have such large collections they might not even realize what they have and if they do they might not want to let them go for sentimental reasons. These books have been in our families for generations in some cases since before Watford was founded. Besides controlling the spread of information is an insidious thing to do. Knowledge is power Snow in the world of mages that translates very literally. He who controls the allocation of knowledge controls the people’’

“I can sort of see it.”

“Well, that’s a start.

Simon  
After my conversation with Baz, it’s almost dinner time. I can’t believe that me and Baz are friends now. I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who was best friends with their roommate. I mean in most of my fantasies I imagined getting a different roommate, well that's not true after a while I couldn’t imagine having a different roommate. Now that we're friends does that mean we’ll hang out and do things together? I need to tell Penny about this. I haven’t kept track of the Baz quota. I hope I haven’t hit it.  
“Hey, Simon.”  
“Hey, Pen.”  
“What did you do on your first day of not stalking Baz.”  
“ I tried to get ahead of my classes but then I got bored and went to watch Baz’s football practice.”  
“Simon!”  
“I know Penny but I wasn't there to stalk him. I just like watching him play.”  
“Okay, what did you do after?”  
“We had a conversation!”  
“What?’  
“Yeah, we decided we wanted to be friends.”  
“What really?”  
“Yeah.”  
“How’d that happen?”  
“Well, we just talked it out you know.”  
“What did you say.’  
“Well we’ve both been jealous of people who are friends with their roommates, I mean I always thought that would somehow mean somehow getting a new roommate. But he did think I was going to accuse him of plotting when I showed up to his practice. I told him I still want to know what he’s up to when I'm not around. Not because I think he’s up to something bad but because I'm curious about him as a person. To be honest I think I always have. And so I guess we're friends now. Oh, and I did sort out and make sure he’s not you know actually a shitty person. I asked him why he’s so against the mages reforms.”  
“What did Basil have to say about that?”  
“The Watford reforms were poorly handled and could have been done while addressing some of the old families' concerns. Baz doesn’t think the amount of taxes the old families are paying is reflected in the school. And he doesn’t agree with the mage's stance on making certain spellbooks illegal to own. I’ll have to admit he swayed me on the spellbook thing.”  
“So like what most people on the coven believe.”  
“Is that really what most people believe.”  
“Yes Simon, but the mage makes it so that if you criticize the mages reforms it sounds like you're completely against reform and change within the magical community.”  
“Ah, so people don’t like the mage because he’s so stubborn about the way he wants things done.”  
“That's a light way of putting it.”  
I shrug “the mage probably has good reasons why he wants things to be a certain way.”  
“On an unrelated note, I noticed that you don’t hang out with Gareth.”  
“Honestly I’m not used to even thinking that much about him.”  
“Face it Simon you don’t even like him.’  
“You keep saying I shouldn’t date who I’m dating.”  
“That’s because you keep dating people who are just in the background to your everything else. You keep dating people like it’s a checklist not because you actually want to be with them.”  
“Speak for yourself, Penny.”  
“What do you mean by that Simon?”  
“I mean Micah isn’t exactly at the forefront of your mind at all times. I know he’s an afterthought for you a lot of the time.”  
“I guess but for Micah and I it’s more of a distance thing it’s nothing that can’t be solved once we see each other in person. The people you’re dating are immediately available to you yet you don’t even think to seek them out when you have free time.”  
“I guess you’re right. I don’t think I'm used to the free time.“  
“I don’t think that it’s about spare time. It’s about who you spend your time on regardless of how much you have.”  
“What do you mean by that.”  
“I mean no matter how busy you’ve been you’ve always made time for Baz. When you're not talking to him you're watching him. When he’s not around you talk about him. Your fixation on Baz is the reason you can’t connect with anyone else  
“What no..”  
“You choose to spend your time on Baz and that affects your other relationships.”  
“I don’t wanna spend less time with Baz we’re friends now.”  
“I didn’t say you had to but. You have the time you make time to spend on him. Like it or not.   
“I just don’t know what to do with what you said earlier. I have a natural pull towards him. I don't know whether it’s the crucible or something else.”  
“Simon, you like him.”  
“I guess we’re friends now.”  
“No, Simon, you like him. You’re attracted to him. You have a crush on him.”  
“I do not have a crush on him. I can’t..he’s”  
“Your friend. Before you said it didn’t matter whether or not you were attracted to him because he was trying to kill you. Now you know he’s not.”  
I have a crush on Baz. I like Baz. I wanna know where he is at all times because I wanna be there. I only got into fights with him because I wanted his attention and it didn’t matter how. I don’t want to think about it. Because it hurts to think about. Baz may have decided that we could be friends but he won’t love me back. Because this is definitely more than a crush. I probably always have in some strange way.

Baz

When Simon walks through the door he gives me a bright smile, one he typically reserves for baked goods, Bunce, and school festivities. because the beautiful moron loves those sorts of things. I realized I've started thinking of him exclusively as Simon. I don’t know when it started but I have to keep it in check. I can’t give any sign of how desperate I am to be close to him. If being around him was torture before it’s worse now but in the best possible. Every moment I spend near him I bask in his brilliant light. His warmth draws me in closer and closer. Just when I think we're approaching our limit he only allows me to draw in closer. Simon Snow is the sun and I’m crashing into him.

Simon  
When I get back to the room there’s a bird waiting on me and Baz is settled into his bed reading a book. No stalking about the campus tonight then. I take the message from the bird. It’s from Gareth he wants me to meet him outside the dining hall at seven o’clock tomorrow night for our date. Oh yeah, that. Maybe I should cancel after all. Tell him I already know it’s not going to work out. That I have feelings for someone else. I notice the windows are open although it’s been unseasonably warm for early spring. I know the night air is too cold for Baz’s liking. I go to close them but Baz stops me.”  
“Leave it open,” he says  
“I thought I'd do you a favor.”  
“Likewise, however, I recently learned a new warming spell that works better on blankets so if you close the window I might actually get too hot.”  
“Really? I know you can withstand a lot of heat.”  
“Okay maybe I won’t overheat if you close the window but I’ll still be comfortable. And it’s not that cold out.”  
“Alright, but if you do get cold you can shut the window.”  
“I get the point Snow, merlin.”  
“Good night Baz sweet dreams.”  
“Sweet dreams you absolute nightmare.” he gripes, turning off the light and rolling on his side.”  
Well if he’s going to be like that I can’t help but get under his skin just a little.  
“Hey, Baz, how do you think merwolves reproduce?”  
“If you don’t shut up you’ll have the chance when I throw you in the moat.”  
“Ah, Bazzy you wouldn’t do that to your friend.”  
“You should ask Dev what I did to him last time he pissed me off. And don’t call me Bazzy. Go to sleep Snow.” and i do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope my dialog wasn't too repetitive I wanted to show certain characters reacting to earlier events that they weren't present for.


	4. Chapter 4

**Baz**

Snow is still asleep when I wake up. Which is a rare occurrence. He typically wakes up early enough to get at least three servings of breakfast. Should I wake him or let him sleep? Maybe it’s intentional. He does have his date with Gareth tonight. No matter how much I want to believe otherwise they may actually hit it off. It’s still unlikely but as with Simon's ambiguous attraction to men possible despite evidence to the contrary. I wouldn’t be able to pull off the same kind of antics as I did when he was dating Wellbelove. We’re friends now and trying to sabotage your friend’s romantic relationships is considered unacceptable. I decide if he doesn’t wake up on his own I’ll wake him up when I leave the room so that he doesn’t miss breakfast entirely. I hear him rouse just as I'm finishing my morning skincare routine. As I leave I glance in his direction. He looks as though he wants to say something but I’m already out the door. Once in the dining hall Bunce flags me down I should probably see what she wants. Immediately as I sit down she speaks

“So Basilton I hear you're friends with Simon now.”

“Is this one of those any friend of Simon’s is a friend of mine talks because you hardly seem like the type.”

“I’m not having more than two friends is more trouble than it’s worth.” Although since Simon and Agatha broke up it’s been more like one-point-five friends. But This is more of a shovel talk.”

“Message received but you must’ve come up with a decent threat.”

“Alright vampire or not if you hurt Simon you’ll burn. How’s that?”

“Not bad. If you hadn’t told me you were going to threaten me it might have been quite menacing. Maybe summon a small flame. You’ve got that ring so it will look like you’re doing it wandless even if you’re not. But if that's all you’ve got to say I guess I’ll be leaving.”

“Actually I had a few other things I'd like to discuss.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know if Simons talked to you about it and I’m going to assume he hasn’t but Simon and I have a plan but we need your help to make it work.”

“You and Simon have been plotting? We may be friends now but that doesn’t mean I’m going to help you with your little schemes. Especially if they’re against the families.”

“Technically it’s Simon's idea that I've turned into a plan but I digress. And it’s just as much against the mage as it is the old families.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“Simon told me about your truce but he also said that it wasn’t just you, he refused to fight against the old families at all which I'm sure hasn’t escaped your notice is a pretty big deal overall.”

“Okay, so where do _ I  _ fit into this.”

“Simon hoped that maybe a few others would follow his example if he refused. And he’s right some will. But if it’s only people on the more mage leaning side that refuse to fight it won’t work as well.”

“So, you want me to What? Publicly refuse to fight? Snow hasn’t even done that he has plenty of time to go back on his word.”

“Well, we just came up with this plan. Actually it will work better if you both do it at the same time and show that it was an act of mutual cooperation. Look you’ve both been built up to be the symbols of two opposing sides for years. There are people out there who analyze both you and Simons every single move and read it for political significance.”

“Those people are out of their minds.”

“They may very well be but even more sensible mages see you two as representatives of your two respective sides. If you two can put aside your differences then any mage can. Especially since the stance won’t even lean one side or the other only that it should be resolved non-violently.”

“Bunce, only one side is actively inciting violence and you know it.”

“Yes, but we shouldn’t be having  _ that _ conversation in a crowded room.”

“Are we done believe it or not I still need to eat occasionally.”

“I know cook Pritchard gave you a key to the kitchen.”

“Yes and she doesn’t like me abusing the privilege if I don't have to so what else do you possibly need me for.”

“We definitely can’t let Simon and Gareth get together right?”

**Penny**

“Are you seriously asking me to sabotage Snow’s date tonight?”

“No. I’m asking you to  _ help _ me sabotage Simon and Gareth's date.”

“You know what Penelope, I think we should wait and see if this date crashes and burns by itself before we waste our effort.”

“I thought you’d want the satisfaction.”

“Why do you think that doing something that would potentially hurt si- Snow would be satisfying to me.”?

“ well, you and I both know you don’t like Gareth.”

“Yes that’s true, but why do you want to destroy their relationship.”

“Simon will continue to date someone even if they aren’t right together. Even if he has feelings for someone else.” it’s not necessarily true but as Simon’s friend, I want to see what his crush’s reaction to finding out he has feelings for someone. I know Baz can tell Simon's not really serious about dating Gareth.

“If Simon likes somebody else then why isn’t he pursuing them.”

“He thinks that they will never love him back. I don’t know why.” I really don’t but that's the point of this exercise, isn’t it. “Maybe he thinks he likes someone else or maybe he thinks he’s straight. I hear that the misguided assumption that everyone is straight by default hinders that sort of thing.”

“Well that’s understandable I for one avoid hitting on straight men for fear of getting punched.”

“Has that happened at Watford before.”

“No but I am on a men's sports team and it is simultaneously extremely homoerotic and horrendously homophobic.”

“Is that why you’ve never dated anyone at Watford.”

“No that's not why, When did this conversation become about me? I thought we were talking about Snow's unrequited love.”

“There's not much else to say. He won’t even entertain the idea of confessing his feelings unless he’s pushed to do so.”

“What are we going to do if he’s right? What if they really don’t love him back. Is it really so wrong to try to I don’t know move on.”

“You sound like you're speaking from personal experience.”

“You really have a way of needling information out of someone without them realizing.”

“I’ve been doing what is essentially detective work since I was eleven. So after seven years, you’d have to have some skills.”

“You know I refer to you as Snow’s sidekick way too often when it should be Penelope Bunce, world's greatest detective and her sidekick Simon Snow.”

“I wouldn’t go that far too many of our problems are solved by Simon hitting things with his sword. But I would like equal credit at least once in a while.”

“But really I should get some food before breakfast ends. I skipped dinner last night and cook Pritchard will tell me off if I abuse my kitchen privileges because I spent all breakfast chatting.”

“By all means eat Basil, there's food right in front of us. Although I'm curious to see what Dev and Niall have been chatting with Simon about.” I say as I gesture to Baz's usual table where Simon is currently sitting. Baz looks over at his friends raising his eyebrow at them.

**Simon**

I wake up with a headache and stumble into the dining hall halfway through breakfast hoping that Penny has saved me some scones. From here the morning goes from slightly off to flat out strange. First I see Penny sitting with Baz at our normal table. But the prospect of having a pleasant breakfast with Baz is short-lived when Dev and Niall strong-arm me over to their table.

“We figure since your friend stole Baz we’d steal you,” says Dev.

“We hear you’ve been getting friendly with Baz,” says Niall in a welcoming tone but the phrasing still manages to sound like he's accusing you of flirting with someone's girlfriend. 

“Yeah, I guess you could say that I mean… we decided to try to be friends. It hasn’t even been a full day yet.” I nearly stammer.

“You know if Baz has decided to be friends with him it means that he’s been given a good reason to you,” says Dev.

“But if you break that trust you’ll wish the humdrum got you when we get done with you.” threatens Niall. And here I thought Niall was the nice one of the group. Also, did they rehearse this it sort of seems like they did? Although they hang out with Baz so this level of dramatics might just come naturally to them.

“It might be a good time to give us a good reason to trust you,” says Dev.

“Well I don’t know, I just made a truce with Baz and told him I don’t want to kill anyone for politics I don’t understand or believe in.”

“If I'm hearing you right you just said you don’t want to kill anyone. Like you’re including people from the old families in your definition of anyone.”

“Yeah I guess I am.” with this Dev shoves a plate of scones my way.   
“You’re alright Snow,” announces Niall. 

“So Snow I hear you have a date with Gareth tonight,” asks Dev

“Yeah.”

“Why? Dev continues to grill.

“Why what?

“Why Gareth?’

“I don’t know, he seems nice and he asked.”

“So it’s a pity thing? 

“No, I don’t think so.”

“You don’t  _ think  _ so.”

“No, why’s this important.”

“It’s not really. We were just wondering why you are dating Gareth and not some other bloke.”

“He asked first.”

“Again pity.’

“Why do keep saying that.?”

“You don’t seem very interested in him.”

“I don’t know we haven’t spent that much time together.”

“Exactly.”

“Wanting to spend time together is a good indicator if you like someone or not.” Niall chimes in

“It’s just one date.”

“With someone you're not interested in.” Dev counters

“If you say so, what's your point?”

“Why don’t you date someone you’re actually interested in.”

“That would require someone being interested in me.”

“Oh, there are plenty of queer blokes that are interested they just weren’t willing to flirt with a straight boy.”

“Should you be using that word ?”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it.?

“Everyone at this table is some flavor of gay Snow if that's what you're worried about,” Niall informs me.

“Oh. okay, I guess. Wait you know for sure which blokes like me.”

“Yeah, some. I know I’ve seen a couple of blokes check you out” Niall volunteers 

“We also have a way better gaydar than you. Or Baz for that matter.” Dev quips

“Yeah, Baz always insisted you were straight.”

“Wait you guys have discussed whether or not I was straight.”

“yep.”

“And you argued I wasn’t.”

“Should have put money on it.” Niall laughs 

“ I think Baz once said if you were queer he’d eat his hat,” Dev adds.

“Too bad he set his boater on fire.’’ Niall snorts. 

“When was this?”

“Last year I think.”

“LAST YEAR!”

“Yeah what about it?”

“I DIDN’T FIGURE IT OUT UNTIL THIS WEEK!”

“That’s fine we all move at our own pace.’’ supplies Niall

“How did you figure it out?”

“We’ve seen you staring at footballers’ asses mate,” says Dev, clapping me on the shoulder as if to suggest solidarity.

“Am I really that…’

“Obvious? Oblivious? Yes.” interrupts Dev

“Really should have put money on it,” Niall states wistfully 

“Like you need it,” Dev argues 

“Excuse you my parents actually put a limit on my spending and pay attention to what I put on my card, unlike some people.” Niall quips

“If I'm so obvious about it, why didn’t Baz figure it out?”

“Well he doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head, does he? Dev states mirthfully. 

“You didn’t tell him that i did that, did you?”

“We have but he wouldn’t believe it.”

“Um, why were you guys even talking about whether or not it was straight?”

“You’ll have to ask Baz that question.”

“Why?’

“Just because I think it will be entertaining.”

“ _ Okay... _ I’m leaving.”

“Glad we had this talk Snow.”

**Baz**

I am in fact very curious about what Dev and Niall said to Simon. I know they would never outright tell him I have feelings for him. But they might joke or hint at it. Merlin what if they told him something embarrassing about me. Not that there's that much to tell that wouldn’t directly out my feelings for him or that i’m a vampire. Although if our friendship progresses the way I hope it does I’ll be able to trust him with that second half. This will likely end in flames before that point though. I don’t run over to them but I do walk briskly.

“What did you say to him?”

“No hello how are you?” Dev intones.

“Honestly Basil, where are your manners? I know you’ve been hanging out with Snow but Crowley.” chides Niall.

“Good morning gentleman, how are you doing on this fine morning,” I say as if it were a genuine polite formality.

“Fine thanks. And you” Niall supplies cheekily 

“I’m well except I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID TO SNOW!.” I demand, dropping the act halfway through.

“Crowley you and Snow really like shouting and demanding things,” says Dev

“Yeah you two are perfect for each other.” agrees Niall.

“Okay do I need to repeat myself again.”

“Fine.” huffs Dev First we told him if this friendship of yours is a trick he’d wish the humdrum got a hold of him.” 

“Okay.”

“Asked him why he was dating Gareth when he has better options.”

“Did he ask who.”

“He asked if we knew for sure who liked him.”

“I said I saw a few guys check him out but didn’t name names. Supplies Niall”

“Anything else.”

“We may have let it slip that we discussed his sexual orientation,” admits Dev.

“That’s not too bad.”

“Well, we may have also told him that that happened before this week and that we argued he wasn’t straight.”

“Did he ask why?”

“Why did we discuss his sexuality or why we knew he wasn’t straight?”

“Either or.”

“He asked both.”

“What did you tell him?”

“We told him we caught him staring at footballers asses.”

“He didn’t deny it?”

“Nope.”

“He asked why you thought he was straight.”

“What did you say to that?”

“You don’t have eyes in the back of your head.”

“You did not.”

“Did so.”

“What did you say was the reason we were talking about his sexuality was?”

“We told him to ask you.”

“Well, thanks for that at least.”

“Well, I think it’s a disservice. We should have told him so we don’t have to watch this mutual pinning fest.”

“What did Bunce have to say to you.”

“She threatened me and tried to involve me in her hair-brained schemes.”

“What were they about?”

“She has an excellent idea about how to lose the mage approval with the coven and she wanted me to help sabotage Snow's date with Gareth.”

“ why”

“Why what .”

“Why does she want to sabotage Snow's date?”

“Snow has feelings for somebody else but he won’t pursue them because he believes he doesn’t have a chance with  _ HIM _ .”

“You know that's you right.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“Look who was right about Snow?”

“You guys. look could we just not talk about it.”

“Right right so what was Bunce's plan about the mage.”

“Well since Simon has basically pledged that he won’t fight in the war because he doesn’t believe in it if we got a lot of people to publicly commit to non-violence then the violence will stop.”

“And that's just supposed to work,” Dev asks sarcastically

“It won’t without me.”

“So the plan is to just get everyone to get along? Sure that's going to work fine .” dev continues to snark. Why didn’t we try that years ago

“The point is to either pressure the mage into only nonviolent diplomacy or lose him his support if he attacks people who have committed to nonviolent resistance. And they didn’t have the leadership for it years ago. ’

“So what you’re saying is that we can get people to hold the mage accountable for antagonizing the families.”

“Yes.”

“Is Snow aware of the plan.’”

“Our plan b is his plan a. He wants to encourage everyone to solve this peacefully while I’m hoping the mage still continues his reign of antagonism and loses all of his support. But Snow getting his way wouldn’t be too bad.”

**Simon**

Breakfast and the conversation during it did nothing for my headache. In fact it made it worse. Dev and Niall gave me a lot to think about. They know I like Baz. That’s probably why they forced me to sit with them. It seems like they even approve of me. I don’t feel like doing anything but laying in my bed. Along with a headache my throat is sore. I think I just need a little bit of rest and I'll be fine. I want to talk to Penny but I decide not to. She’ll likely come looking for me when she gets bored of whatever she’s reading. I wonder what Baz is doing. I lay in bed almost all day but instead of feeling any better I just feel worse. 

**Baz**

Snows in his bed compressed into a ball and whimpering. What is wrong with him? Is he injured? sick? We’re friends now so i don’t have to pretend to enjoy his suffering. Snow lets out a hearty string of coughs answering that question. He seems to have caught Dev and Niall's flu somehow. He’s never around them so it’s highly unlikely maybe it’s an isolated incident. Also unlikely. The only link between them is me. I’m not sick, I can’t get sick. Nevermind that. Snow looks miserable. But he looks like he’s got what Dev and Niall had and they were fine. So he should be fine, right? I decide to check on him more thoroughly to make sure.

“Are you dying Snow?” I ask teasingly but without much venom. We’re friendlier but not quite at the show heartfelt concern for one another. I’ll likely die before we reach that phase.

“Not feeling well.’” he grumbles.

“I’ve gathered that Snow.” I retort 

“It’s the flu I think.

“Makes sense both Dev and Niall had it this week.”

“I don’t hang around them and no one i was around was sick. Unless you gave it to me.” 

“You were with them this morning.”

“I was already feeling bad by then.”

“I’m not sick. I don’t get sick.”

“I think I heard somewhere that some people and animals can carry diseases without having symptoms.”

“You think I’m a plague rat or something”.

“You are what you eat.”

“Unbelievable. It’s likely because you leave the windows open”

“That’s not how germs work and it’s not that cold right now.”

“Oh so now you’re the expert on germ theory, and it’s plenty cold.”

“It’s only fifteen degrees, it's not like it’s freezing. You told me to keep the windows open last night”

“Any way would you like me to get you some tea or something”

“Why do you care?”

“If I let you die of the flu, the mage will probably think I poisoned you or something and have me arrested. Anyway do you want something or not I haven't got all day.” I’m trying to be nice why won’t he let me.

“Well if you put it that way I guess a cuppa sounds nice.’’

“I’ll see what I can do.”

**Simon**

Baz is showing concern for my well being. I’ve been sick before but he’s never made sure I didn't die. In fact, he usually laughs and makes fun of me. If I say everyone gets sick he responds with “I don’t”. A perk of being a vampire I guess. I’ve seen him sneeze once or twice. He sneezes like a cat. It’s not loud but he makes a lot of faces. It’s pretty funny. He must be allergic to something. I asked Penny if she thought it could be something vampire specific and if we could figure it out and prove he’s a vampire. Looking back, that one’s kind of ridiculous. Why did I do that? Because I wanted to get him to sneeze again? Because I thought It was cute. Honestly so is the way he huffs when he knows I'm right. Or even just a minute ago when he was trying to deflect his concern for me. He doesn’t hate me. He at least likes me enough to care about my well being. It makes me happy but it kind of hurts. I should be over the moon. The boy I'm in love with cares enough about me to try to take care of me when I’m sick. I guess I shouldn’t read into it too much. He literally does this for all his friends.

**Baz**

Snow smiles at me brightly when I walk in the door and my heart skips a beat. I know it’s more about the tea and baked goods I’m holding than me, but I’m the one who brought them to him. I’m responsible for that smile. Crowley this was definitely worth the mild inconvenience it’s caused me. 

“Sorry they didn’t have any scones, cook pritchard hasn’t made any more since you scarfed the last one’s at breakfast but I’ve brought you some tea and some muffins.” Snow takes the mug of tea and one of the muffins and eyes them suspiciously. He takes a sip of the tea and looks at it even more suspiciously. “Is there something wrong with the tea Snow?’’ I ask.

“No, no the tea’s perfect. Exactly the way I like it.” he replies looking at me with an expression I can’t quite place. It’s similar to the smug one he makes when he thinks he’s caught me doing something. I guess in a way he has. Fuck . I should have made it slightly off. I also shouldn’t have mentioned the scones but even the first years know how much he likes those.

“Then what’s the problem? Oh, dear merlin. fuck. Fuck. fuck.

“Nothing I guess, just unexpected.” he replies and smiles. Wow. I can’t handle this. Every time he smiles at me it drives me up a wall. I want to kiss him so badly it hurts. For once I'm at a loss for words.

“Hey Baz, can I ask you something?” he croaks his sore throat evidently getting worse.

“Sure, what? 

“When I was talking to dev and Niall this morning they told me you guys discussed whether or not I was straight. They wouldn’t tell me why. They told me to ask you. So I guess this is me asking you why.” Ah, dev and Niall warned me about this but I wasn’t expecting this today. I probably should have with how naturally curious he is no wonder he’s such good friends with “detective” Bunce. I have to come up with something that doesn’t give myself away entirely. I practically came out to Bunce earlier so Simon will find out about that eventually if he doesn’t already know. Even with how good Bunce is at coaxing information out of people I wouldn’t have told her if I wasn’t fine with that. Though I do know If Bunce wanted to prove whether or not I’m a vampire she easily could. Hopefully with our plan she won’t have a reason to.

“Sometimes gay people like to talk about who else might be.”

“Okay makes sense. Why didn’t dev just say so?”

“He probably didn’t want to out me or at least wanted to give me control over confirming it.”

“So you are?”

“Yes, one-hundred percent.”

“So you don’t like girls at all?”

“Not at all.” I think I know where this is going.

“Then why did you flirt with agatha?” there it is.

“I only flirted with her to get under your skin.” This seems to make him angry. I don’t know what else to say. Maybe i should have lied and said it was so no one noticed I was gay. (that was a bonus I have to admit.)

“So you played with someone else's feelings to get to me.” maybe that wouldn’t have helped.

“I’m not sure she really liked me. Genuinely. She liked the idea of me. If I even remotely like women I might find it in me to be upset.”

“Either way you still lead her on.”

“I’m aware that was shitty of me but that was sort of the whole point.”

“You should apologize.”

“I might but I won’t go out of my way to do it.

“It’s a start at least.

“So Snow while we’re on the subject, why did you two finally break it off for good? If it is indeed for good.”

“Agatha was tired of coming second to everything and tired of constantly being in danger because of her connection to me.” I am almost angry about that. Almost. I’ve always been aware that loving Simon Snow was like loving a ticking time bomb. I always assumed that everyone else knew that. That they’d accepted that when they decided to become close to him. Of course, I already knew she didn’t really love him. It’s always been another reason I resent her. 

“I always thought that the danger is what drew her in. Everyone knows you're a hazard. She must have known the risks going in.”

“We were kids when we started spending time together. Now that we’re older I guess she realized that we could actually die.”

“Why now you’ve nearly died several times now.”

“And we were lucky we didn't. I think she finally realized it. I don’t blame her too much. Last time was the first time it was her, not me or penny. We’ve been doing this since before we realized that there's not always a guarantee of us making through all of this alive. In the beginning, it all seemed like an adventure.”

“I’ll admit when you’re gone on your missions for the mage I let myself think ‘oh he’s the chosen one he’ll come back to fight me another day.’ but I knew that was wishful thinking. I just really couldn’t let myself think you might really die out there.”He gives me yet another wide smile. I feel like an absolute lunatic telling him all this, but his proximity has made me weak. My love for him has always made me soft. Letting him hate me and keeping my distance was much better for my self-preservation. I die a thousand small deaths at his affections knowing he’ll never feel the same way I do about him.

**Simon**

“That means a lot to me Baz. Even when we weren't friends when we were still fighting each other you still believed I would be back. You still wanted me to come back.”

“Well I called first dibs on ending you,” he says and I know he doesn’t mean it 

“I’m pretty sure the humdrum's got first dibs actually and it doesn’t care. Besides, you admitted you never wanted to kill me.”

“I wouldn’t say never, Snow.”

“Still I- it’s nice to have someone who would miss me if I didn’t come back.” I almost told him I  _ need _ someone to come back to. I almost told him I want to come back because he would miss me.

“Bunce-” he starts but interrupts him

“Penny is always with me when I go on quests or missions. Hopefully, if it comes down to it Penny will make it if I don’t...but.” I feel tears start to form in my eyes and my magic starting to bubble in my chest. I don’t like to think about this. Possibly dying. Penny dying. Both of us dying and have no one left to mourn me. How quickly it occurred to me that i don’t think the mage would. No that's silly he would right? My tears quickly spillover “Baz is it bad that I want people to be sad when I die? I hear my voice crack when I say it. Crowley I’m letting myself cry in front of Baz. 

“Shh.. It’s alright, you’re not a bad person to want that.” He says placing a hand on my shoulder in an attempt at comforting me. It works but not entirely. It does distract me and makes my heart soar. He would miss me. He cares enough to take care of me when I’m sick. He comforts me when I'm sad. If i wasn’t already in love with him I definitely would be now. Crowley, I’m such a goner. 

“I’m going to cast some spells on you is that alright,” he announces, removing his hand from my arm. I’m too tired and sick to say anything else so I nod.” **_sweet dreams_ ** he casts and moments later I drift off.

**Baz**

I know I shouldn’t do it but I should cast any other healing spell on him. This one will be the most effective, I reason. any healing spell I cast on him will be effective. Despite this, I still cast  **_Kiss it better_ ** and kiss the mole right at the edge of his hairline. And I let myself caress his cheek and smooth his curls. (because I’m disturbed ask anyone). He leans into the touch in his sleep but I move my hand away anyway. It’s probably because my hands are cold and he’s always burning up. Right now he might have a slight fever too. I cast a cooling spell on his pillow for good measure before getting ready for bed myself.


	5. Chapter 5

Simon   
I missed my date with Gareth last night. I didn’t mean to but I was too sick to get out of bed. I forgot to get someone to tell him. I could have tried sending a bird but my magic acts up on my best days let alone while I'm sick. I find Gareth in the dining hall. I need to tell him I didn’t mean to stand him up but I was so sick I couldn’t get out of bed and couldn’t get a hold of him. I wave to get his attention as I walk up to him.  
“Hey, Gareth, wait up.”   
“What do you want Simon?”   
“I want to apologize for last night. I didn’t mean to stand you up last night. I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed. Then I couldn’t get a hold of you. I don’t have a mobile and trying to do magic while I was sick wasn’t a great idea.”  
“Am I supposed to believe that when you and Baz have been so buddy, buddy recently”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?   
“It means you and Baz conspired to make fun of me.”  
“Me conspire with Baz to be mean to someone? When we didn’t even start getting along with each other until this week. Why would you even think of that? It’s so ridiculous.”  
“Baz didn’t start messing with me until after I mentioned I was going to ask you out but since I have he hasn’t stopped.”  
“What?  
“Oh come off it Snow I know you think the whole thing is just hilarious.”  
“No! I swear I had no idea that Baz was bullying you like this. I’ve never seen him act like this to anyone besides me.”  
“Yeah, right.”  
“It’s the truth.” I knew Baz was an asshole but wow. I should be more upset at Baz over this, but i’m more upset I was dragged into this than anything.”look i’m sorry for what Baz did to you but I had no part in it.” I leave to go find Baz. I want him to explain what the fuck he was thinking. 

Baz  
Simon storms up to me and gets in my face like he used to before our truce.  
“Baz what the fuck. This is what I get for giving you the benefit of the doubt.”  
“I have no idea what you're talking about. Whatever it is, I didn't do it, you're just paranoid like always.” fuck he must know I kissed him in his sleep.  
“So you haven’t been antagonizing Gareth all week’’ fuck well that’s not as bad but I should have known that would upset him when he found out.  
“Oh, that. I get why you’d be upset. I only started insulting him because he irritated me first.”  
“That’s still not a great reason Baz.”  
“I don’t even think I was that mean to him. Sure I was harsher to him than was actually necessary, but I was mainly reacting to him. I know I should have told you and I only messed with him once after our truce”  
“Baz, he thinks you and I conspired to embarrass him.”  
“what?  
“He thinks I stood him up intentionally.”  
“What do I have to do with that?”  
“He thinks that because you and I are friends now, that you insulting him and me missing my date with him are connected.”  
“You have to admit that that’s a stretch.”  
“I don’t know what you said to him so I have no idea.”  
“I’ve only really spoken to him three times and he’s the one who initiated the conversation. The first time I basically said I thought you were straight and that asking you out was a bad idea. The second time Insinuated that he was just a short fling before you moved on to someone else. And the third time I said that you were too good for him. that time he antagonized me about my family first by the way.”  
“It is a stretch but you essentially brought up all of the different ways that I COULD hurt him.  
“I don’t get why you’re so upset over belt buckle boy. You could find someone better.’  
“Baz! That’s not the point.”  
“Then what is?”  
“He’s only upset with me due to a miscommunication that is mostly YOUR fault!”  
“And what do you want me to do about it.”  
“I don’t know! talk to him! Apologize! Swear you had nothing to do with me missing the date!”  
“Fine, I’ll talk to him. I don’t know what good that’ll do.”  
“You will. Great. Let’s go.”  
“Right now?”  
“Yes, I wanna watch and make sure you do it.” Baz groans and gets up from his chair.

Baz  
Simon is forcing me to talk it out with the greasy beaver. I could refuse, but I can't risk hurting our friendship. Now I can’t go back to being his enemy. Not after I've been allowed to be close to him without having to try to hurt him. I suppose I hurt him anyway.  
As we approach Gareth he calls out.  
“What, Snow? Come back with your new best friend to gloat?”  
“No, we’ve come to prove that this is all a major misunderstanding.”  
“Snow really didn’t mean to miss his date with you. My personal opinions about you are just that my own does not reflect Simons.” I say mechanically and pointedly unapologetic.  
“Why should I believe you? Gareth says just like I knew he would.”  
“Oh come on, don’t you think this is all a big stretch.”  
“It’s pretty hard to see it as a coincidence when all of his insults were in relation to you!”  
“What will it take for you to believe it was a misunderstanding.”  
“a truth spell“  
“Sure,” Simon says as I say “No”  
“Then that settles it.” He says and then he casts The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth, thrusting his hips in our direction. I feel the spell take effect immediately. It’s only supposed to affect one of us.  
“I don’t feel anything,” says Snow   
“That’s because it hit me,” I say forcefully  
“Oops,” Gareth says without remorse. He may have even done it on purpose.  
“Let’s just get this over with,” I say scowling  
“Okay, did you and Simon conspire to embarrass me?”  
“No.”  
“Was Simon actually sick last night.”  
“Yes. Are we done? I didn’t want to come here in the first place.” I don’t mind too much that I said that last part out loud even though I didn’t mean to.  
“Can I have an apology.”  
“No, you can't. I'm under a truth spell and I'm not sorry. The only thing I regret is Simon getting Involved.” This seems to make him angrier.  
“Did you do anything to try to sabotage my date with Simon.”  
I want to say no, but instead, I say “I talked down about you to him.”  
“Why did you start picking on me in the first place!? Why now?”  
“ I was annoyed that you were showing interest in Snow. Then for trying to embarrass me about being wrong about Snow” I say, which would be fine except I follow it up with “ and I was jealous that he was showing interest in you and not me.” Gareth smirks pleased to have gotten one over on me. But before I can leave Gareth asks one more question.”  
“Are you a vampire?’

Simon  
“I was jealous that he was showing interest in you and not me.” Baz continues reluctantly Before I can really react to Baz’s admission, Gareth asks him yet another question.  
“Are you a vampire?”   
fuck. I panic. I've got to do something. He wouldn’t even be in this situation if it weren’t for me. Well, he did insult Gareth. But that doesn’t mean he deserves his life to be in danger. Baz is an asshole but I love him. Then I think of the weird silencing spell I learned last week  
“Liplock“ I cast, grabbing Baz by the shirt and pulling his lips down to mine. He reciprocates. although the kiss was mainly so that the spell would work I thoroughly enjoy it. It doesn’t last long though because Baz breaks it off and bolts out of mummers presumably to the catacombs. I look up to find Gareth looking at me, his mouth opens dumbly in shock. I shoot him a look trying to convey my annoyance and run after Baz. He was jealous of Gareth! He kissed me back, He must like back.  
Baz  
Simon Snow kissed me. It was only for the spell. And I kissed him back. Why couldn’t he have cast any other spell? I figure it’s the first thing he knew for sure would counteract a truth spell. Especially one that compels the target to speak. I kissed him back. What an idiot. It was a good kiss. Better than I imagined. How would I know if it was a good kiss it was my first and therefore only kiss. What if it was terrible. What if I was terrible. He did cast it after I confessed I liked him. He did seem into it. Maybe he didn’t hear my confession right. Or process it. Why did he cast the spell in the first place? He’s been dying to prove that I’m a vampire for years! This would have been his chance with a witness! Under a truth spell! I feel the truth spell start to wear off. Unfortunately, the Liplock spell lasts a long time and the reversal requires another kiss. Just my luck. I hear footsteps echoing down the tunnels of the catacombs.  
“Baz.” I hear Simon shout. Idiot I’m spelled speechless I can’t respond back. “Baz,” he shouts again. I decide to let him find me. If he even can.. I almost try to get his attention but decide against it. Who knows what he’ll do if I accidentally startle him. He does manage to find me after another fifteen minutes walking past the corridor I'm sitting in twice.   
“Baz.” says yet again looming over where I'm sitting seemingly expecting a response. “Oh right. He says.  
And then he goes to kiss me again. This time I evade him moving my head to the side.  
“Come on Baz,” he says and then sighs. ”we can’t talk if you're spelled silent”  
I don’t respond.  
“Baz, I heard what you said to Gareth about being jealous.” I don’t see his eyes.   
“ Baz, look, um… I like you okay. I realized that one of the reasons that I was so obsessed with knowing where you were all the time and what you were doing is that I’m desperately attracted to you. Last night when you were taking care of me I was so happy. Well until I started thinking about death. I even dreamt that you kissed me.  
I lean forward hoping that he’ll take the hint. And he does. This kiss is even more exhilarating than the last. Partly because he admitted to liking me back. It ends before I would like it to. Of course, if it was my choice we would kiss for hours. For a moment I'm at a loss of words. But I soon think of some important concerns that need to be addressed.  
“How? Why? This entire time you’ve been trying to expose me as a monster. I don’t even understand why you gave up your chance to confirm it.”  
“ well, I realized that you probably didn’t choose to become a vampire and that you aren’t hurting anyone. Besides rats. But if I confirmed that, especially in front of Gareth it would put you in danger and you don’t deserve to be hurt over things you can’t change or control.”  
“So you just assume that I’m a vampire and you don’t care.”  
“I mean if you weren’t a vampire you would’ve been happier at the chance to prove it, and I realized that if you’re not hurting anyone you’re just a bloke with an unusual diet.”  
“JUST A BLOKE WITH AN UNUSUAL DIET!”  
“yep.  
“So… in all seriousness how are we going to go about this.’’  
“Um… “  
“Look I-I can’t do this if we’re just going to be together for two weeks and then break up.”  
“Baz, I can’t promise that we’ll be together forever but I do promise that this is more than just an experiment or a fling. Baz, I've liked you for a long time. I didn’t realize it until recently, but I do.”  
“How recently?’  
“This week. I realized that I was attracted to him as soon as I realized that I liked men.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah Penny even made fun of me. She said it made sense why I was so obsessed with you.”  
“Good I was worried that you had just figured that out. But that doesn’t convince me that I’m more than a fling before you run off to somebody else.” I think about what Bunce said. He’s in love with someone. I’m just the next distraction.  
“Baz you underestimate how obsessed I am with you. Great snakes, I don’t even have any hobbies besides following you around. Although I should still work on that.”   
“Bunce told me that you’re in love with someone and that you would still date someone else because you don’t think they’ll love you back.” Simon starts chuckling in response.  
“Baz she was talking about you. She was probably trying to gauge your reaction to the idea of me being in love with someone.” merlin he just told I’m the one he’s in love with. I don’t know what to say. Should I tell him I love him too? I look in his eyes. “Baz stop panicking you don’t have to say it back we’re not even officially together. It’s okay if you don’t feel that way yet. I only wanted you to understand how serious I am.”  
“It’s not that it’s just, I never thought that you’d love me back. I’ve been fantasizing about this since fifth year.”  
“That long?”  
“Yes,” I say. And then he kissed me again. This time I cup his jaw in my hand, deepening the kiss. He reacts by putting his fingers in my hair. We devour each other's mouths until a rat skitters by reminding us of where we are. “ I suggest a change of location,” I say as his stomach growls.  
“And maybe some food.’ he laughs

Penny  
I haven’t seen Simon In nearly twenty-four hours. I didn’t really get to talk to him last time I did. Boys were coming in and out of mummers all day so I didn’t get a good opportunity to sneak in to see him. I don’t even think he left his room for lunch or dinner and he was missing at breakfast. There must be something wrong. I sigh in relief as I see him walk into the dining hall. I was about to march into mummers and check on him myself. Witnesses be damned. It’s then that I notice Baz trailing behind him. Have they started walking together now? That's nice. I need to talk to Simon and tell him what I found out yesterday. Maybe he’ll strike up the courage to ask Baz out when I tell him how sad Baz was that he was in love with someone. However, it seems Baz has decided to sit with us so that will probably have to wait until later.  
“Hey, Penny!  
“Hey Simon, how was your date?” Simon bristles. “That bad huh?”   
“About that…. I was sick so I couldn’t go.” well that lucky I think. But look at Baz. He raises an eyebrow at me.  
“Well that's too bad, are you feeling better now.”  
“Yes much thanks to Baz.” he gushes. Crowley, he’s got it bad and he’s bad at hiding it. “ his healing spells were amazing. I didn’t even have a headache when I woke up even though I went to sleep dehydrated.” I look over at Baz he looks slightly embarrassed.  
“Thanks for taking care of him, Baz.”  
“Don’t mention it. Really don’t.”  
“I’m surprised you got Get well soon to work so well on a headache,” I say watching him. I have a suspicion that's not what he used. Get well soon works well on the actual condition but does little for pain. The look on his face all but confirms it. There’s something else I’m curious about.  
“How did Gareth take the news of you having to cancel.”  
“I wasn’t able to cancel. I couldn’t get out of bed. I just didn’t show up. Needless to say, he was pretty angry.”  
“Why didn’t you have someone tell him.”  
“To be honest I forgot.”  
“To tell him or that you had a date, to begin with.”  
“Both I guess. I was pretty out of it.” I notice that Simon and Baz are both slightly leaned toward each other, shoulders touching. Both of them have one hand under the table. Simon appears to be trying to butter a scone one-handed while Baz is moving vegetables around his plate, fork in his left hand. I know he’s right-handed.  
“Are you two holding hands under the table.”  
“I TOLD you she’d notice.”  
“Nothing gets past you, Bunce.”  
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”  
“I couldn’t figure out how else to do it.”  
“How did this happen?”  
“It’s a long and convoluted story, Bunce.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking around 'til the end. the lip lock spell Is inspired by the story lip lock by liquemortem. which is inspired by this fic cassisluna’s Harry Potter fanfiction: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7086799). I suggest reading both of them if you have the time.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading I'd like to take this opportunity to share some resources for BLM  
> https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/  
> you probably see this everywhere but here it is again
> 
> also, I'm not completely happy with the formatting of the longer paragraphs so if you know a better way lmk


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